The Taliban, Afghanistan and the Uyghurs
The value of Afghanistan’s rare earth elements is estimated at $3 trillion. The pullout has happened, and those minerals are up for grabs — and China is grabbing.
Ellen J. Kennedy
Targeted for genocide in Afghanistan: The Hazaras
The plight of the Hazaras isn’t well known on the international stage. They are an ethno-religious minority, about 9% of the Afghani population of 36 million.
What happens when democracy is attacked and people look away?
We failed Spain and its democracy in the 1930s. We have a chance to save a democracy now.
Hunger: both a cause and a consequence of genocide
We are experiencing the onslaught of extraordinary heat waves, droughts, storms, fires, and floods that cause unmitigated and prolonged scarcities of food and water all over the world.
From the Nazis to the U.S.: LGBTQ hate
More than 80 laws against transgender people have been passed so far in 2021 or are pending in state legislatures across the country.
The Jews, the Armenians, and the Herero: genocides and tattoos
The survivors of genocides are permanently marked, not only through the psychological scars of lifelong trauma but also through physical symbols that perpetrators put onto their victims’ bodies.
Thousands of Falash Mura, caught up in violence in Ethiopia, seek entry into Israel
A small Jewish community of Ethiopians known as Beta Israel has lived in Ethiopia’s Amhara and Tigray regions for 3,000 years. Some converted to Christianity to stay safe; they are known as the Falash Mura.
After four years of misogyny, we must stand up for women
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, to be celebrated on March 8, is “Choose to Challenge.”
On U.S. internment camps’ lessons — and the Supreme Court’s evolution on the law
This month is the anniversary of one of the darkest episodes in U.S. history. On Feb. 19, 1942, President Roosevelt ordered the internment of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans into detention camps spread throughout the country.
U.S. needs the impetus, leadership, and commitment for positive peace
Positive peace is defined by The Institute for Economics and Peace as true, lasting, and sustainable peace built on justice for all.
Where innocents are targeted, the global community must respond
Not enough people are saying “Hineni, here I am.” But we are here. We must raise our collective voices. We have the global tools. We need the political will.
In Poland, hate is spreading against LGBTQ, Jews, Muslims
Attacking the LGBTQ community played a major role in Poland’s right-wing president, Andrzej Duda, July re-election to a second five-year term.
Detention, injury, even death: the price of a free press
Journalists risk their lives to tell us what we must know to preserve democracy and to stand up when our rights are threatened.
China, Tibet, and the Uighurs: a pattern of genocide
The reasons are the same in both Tibet and Xinjiang: China wants to control the two regions.
Protect our kids from Betsy DeVos
DeVos has led the Department of Education to change Title IX in order to loosen efforts to protect children from abuse and to increase protections for the abusers.
‘My grandfather was a Nazi’: Taking responsibility for the past
My student is atoning for what his grandfather did. Where is our responsibility for four centuries of slavery, racism, lynchings, and inequity in education, poverty, health, housing, and every single aspect of life?
Transgender rights: There is still no smooth path
Stand up for and with LGBTQ people in your neighborhood, your workplace, your school, and your faith community. Their lives just might depend on it.
We must end the fallout from COVID-19: xenophobia and hate
We must also protect the most vulnerable among us: the prisoners, the homeless, those at risk of assault, and those with the fewest resources.
On 761 days, Anne Frank, and the circle of responsibility
I see people being careless, not listening to Dr. Michael Osterholm and others about what we must do to protect ourselves – and to protect those at gravest risk.
Child, not bride: Minnesota should outlaw marriage under age 18
Nearly 250,000 children in the United States were married between the years 2000 and 2010. That number includes an estimated 2,500 children in Minnesota.
